Summary

Ixalan Standard is right around the corner, which means players are hard at work brewing the next big thing to take over Standard. Will it be dinosaurs, merfolk, pirates, or something else? We’ll just have to wait and find out, but in the mean time, there’s still a few days left to have fun with this current Standard format! The deck we’re featuring today wants to play cheap creatures and go wide, all with an eye on the late game.

The main power of this deck comes from its early creatures, which dominate the early game and look to put the opponent on the back foot from the get-go. Glory-Bound Initiate and Kari Zev, Skyship Raider are the best of these options early on, as they represent up to 4 and 3 damage respectively per turn. Glory-Bound Initiate‘s drawback makes it a slightly less appealing option than Kari Zev, which is already very hard to kill.

At the top end, this deck relies heavily on Glorybringer to get in extra damage and limit the opponent’s board progression. The 4/4 flyer has quickly become a favorite of red players in every archetype, and it’s perfectly suited to this archetype which naturally lacks burst damage and evasion. Additionally, Always Watching and Claim // Fame both play important roles in this deck, pumping your board to get through past opposing blockers, and returning creatures that were killed in the early game to the board in the late game.